The invention disclosed herein relates to a security door and, more specifically, a security door that impedes or resists the penetration of bullets or other similar projectiles. The present invention provides a bullet resistant door which may be used to protect the occupants in a safe room from external threats by providing a bullet resistant entry door for the room.
In recent years, there have been incidents involving loss of life where an individual or individuals armed with guns have entered buildings such as malls and other commercial buildings, government offices, hospitals, and schools and universities, killing people in those locations, including those hiding in different rooms. Likewise, the owners of residences in certain unsafe areas or owners that are at greater risk of facing armed individuals in their residence, such as prosecutors, government officials, and individuals in the public eye, have installed so-called “safe rooms” at an increasing frequency.
As a result, there is an increasing need for bullet resistant security doors that can be used to create secure rooms in places such as malls and other commercial buildings, government offices, hospitals, and schools and universities and to act as the entry door for safe rooms in residences.
Current bullet resistant doors are often heavy, requiring special door frames to hold the doors and making the door more difficult to open and close. Since special door frames are often required, it is often either impossible or much more difficult and expensive to retrofit a building with bullet resistant security doors to replace pre-existing non-bullet resistant doors. Additionally, due to the heavier construction of the door, current bullet resistant doors are often expensive and more difficult to manufacture.
Likewise, while some lighter-weight doors have been produced, using a bullet resistant fiberglass in conjunction with layers of structural composite lumber, such prior art doors have been unable to pass certain desirable certifications, most notably certifications from UL for protection levels. That is, these prior art doors are unable to pass the protection level certification tests of UL, namely the Level 3 Protection Level tests of the UL 752 standard.
Therefore, there is a need for a security door that is bullet resistant, yet is lighter weight, is easy to manufacture, and can be retrofitted onto existing doorframes.